Back before box fins...

The recent fin thread got me reminiscing (WARNING! GEEZER NOSTALGIA ALERT!)

Don’t get me wrong: no one can deny that the invention of the fin box was a revolutionary development in surfboard technology, and one for which we should all thank our lucky stars. One thing I do  kinda miss, though, is being able to watch boards cruise by on car-top racks and know at a glance who built them without ever seeing the logo.  Here are just a few (please feel free to add others) of those “trademark” fin templates and tell-tale laminations from back in the days when ALL fins were glass-ons:

 

 

 

GREG NOLL

JACOBS STANDARD (first board and 5th one back)

JACOBS/LANCE CARSON MODEL

YATER

WEBER STANDARD LAM

WEBER HATCHET

DEESE/SOUTH BAY

CON STANDARD

CON “COMPETITION”

BING STANDARD

BING/DAVID NOSERIDER

G&S/HYNSON RED FIN

Having been just a grem back in the early '60s, I’d be curious to know from anyone who worked in the industry then: did most shops make their own fins or was anyone just making fins and selling them to the various shops?

    Aloha Dropknee, I didn't get into factory work til late 60's when the short boards were the craze but it seems to me that we either made our own fin blanks and foiled them or bought fin blanks and foiled them. Maybe I missed some thing but can't remember ever buying a foiled fin but I do remember that a fin blank cost a whole $1.50.Also could get 5 gals of lam resin for a whopping $12 and that was from G&S in H.B.. That was post factory days when I was doing boards in my garage in H.B.I had 2 garages and 4 lam racks and after a day of framing homes I would be in there til 9PM. Must say the girl friend was not a happy camper but then again she always thought I going to be a Lawyer,Gag.Aloha,Kokua

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WEBER STANDARD LAM

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 JEEZusss!! Maybe I need to drop in on one of my ex-wives but ignore that Lam because that gam looks terrific to me.

 Got the full picture ????

 Oh, and the fin, yeah.. whatever....

Words right out of my mouth, Surffoils. Love a great set of sticks. What fin???

Lam…gam…

HEY! You’re SUPPOSED to be checkin’  the TEMPLATE not the TEMPTRESS!

That’s Rickie Wakeland.  She, Marsha Bainer and Sherry (Shari?) Hayley were regular eye candy in 60s surf mag ads.

Many a 15-year-old grem’s heart was broken by love unrequited…

Drop, Oh, I’m checking the template all right! Sherri Hayley, what a stoned fox! Remember the ad with the Rolls Royce?

The PIC of Sherri Hayley that I always remember was one in Surfer Magazine.  She’s standing on the beach, dang near bustin’ out of her top while about a dozen surfers standing on a seawall behind her are utterly transfixed.  You woulda thought there was a perfect set rollin’ through…

But about those fins…

Drop, If that set ain’t perfect, I don’t know what is.

Fins???

Fins.

 

Balsa, well done! That is the perfect fin for this discussion. Dig those curves!

I’d recognize that fin anywhere:  it was specially made for the Sherri Haley Signature Model!

 

 

I always thought that the girls who could actually SURF were pretty hot.  Such as…

Linda Benson:

Nancy Nelson:

and Joyce Hoffman:

More fins from olden times.

Another Con Competition strapped to a period, VW surf wagon:

Flaherty:

Felker:

And, of course, what rogues’ gallery would be complete without the ubiquitous “rising sun skeg” (and Rickie’s OTHER leg):

 

Marsha was a stunner!! She was a favorite model of Leroy Grannis’.

This pic caused a stir when it appeared in Surfer, in a Jacobs ad.  While she wasn’t really topless, it appeared that way and certain people objected.

 

 

Another shot from a Jacobs ad. Marsha “shaping”.

 

 

Now, for some Sherry.


Another ‘surf chick’ from that same period who had amazing assets was Tanya Binning. I’m pretty sure she was Australian. While she didn’t appear in the US mags very much, her allure was obvious.

 

 


God Bless you Sammy, Happy Fourth! 

As far as female surfers, Jericho Poppler…good surfer and easy on the eyes.

    Hozit Sammy, When I got to Kauai in 73' Sherry was going with a friend named Russel Berklin in Anahola. She then met an Aussie and left Kauai with him and had some trouble in Thiaand for a few years. Back in the later 80's she and Russel showed up in my restaurant in Kapaa and we had a ball talking story. They weren't together again but had just come to Kauai for memories I guess. Haven seen or heard from either since but heard Russel was having some health problems a couple of years ago and living on Maui.